Travels with Smiley

Estero Resident Shares Joy of Traveling Through Book Series for Young Readers

 

By D. K. Christi / Photos courtesy of Ken Skelton

 

“Travels with Smiley and Kenny the Car” was the first in a 10-book personal travel series by Ken Skelton, written for young readers. Today the books are available through Amazon, featuring colorful covers, artistic illustrations and travel adventures drawn from Skelton’s own experiences. His most recent book in the series was published in March 2026.

Estero resident Skelton said the passion project is illustrative of his approach to life: follow your interests, see them through, do good along the way and love the life you are living. For Skelton and his wife of 41 years, Martha, travel brought them together in a love-at-first-sight meeting. While Ken traveled throughout the United States in his youth, Martha saw the world as a Delta flight attendant, leading to the couple’s first encounter.

Still singing each other’s praises and enjoying their life together, they continue to find excitement and meaning through visual and written media. Before moving to Estero eight years ago, they produced local Kentucky television programming featuring travel, vintage films and interviews with military veterans whose stories of service were both compelling and inspiring. Several were accepted at film festivals and can be seen on Ken Skelton’s YouTube channel.

“Ken ran with his ideas, and I supported them from the background with suggestions, edits, critiques and cameras,” said Martha. “Sometimes I was a tough critic.”

“Martha’s support, creativity and the sheer joy we shared wrapped our different personalities into a meaningful team for life,” added Ken.

As a teenager in Portland, Maine, Ken worked at Maine Medical Center, where a nurse supervisor noticed he was always smiling, even under stress. She started calling him “Smiley,” and the nickname stayed with him for life.

“My relatives always shared their exciting world travels with my siblings and me, sending us postcards and coins from foreign countries and showing slides when they returned,” said Ken. “I read ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not!’ and watched ‘National Geographic’ and ‘The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.’ I was on my way.”

He eventually visited all 50 states and 27 foreign countries, developing a passion for sharing the world’s cultures, history and scenic beauty with young readers. His hope was that they would someday follow in his footsteps through travel, or, at the very least, through the knowledge found in books.

“When writing the first of the ‘Travels with Smiley’ series, it was a family affair,” Ken said. “My sister Jean was the illustrator, my wife provided the valuable critiques and the closing line for all my travel stories: ‘Travel safe, travel fun and travel America.’”

Ken is central to the travel adventures, joined by friends, family and even his automobiles. Part of the charm of his books is his “Smiley” persona and his personified Volkswagen Beetles, Kenney and Buddy the Bumblebee. When Marretta appears, she shares many of the traits attributed to Martha.

Just as Ken ventured into local television — teaching himself every aspect of production because small budgets demanded it — he later tackled writing and publishing with the same determination. His goal wasn’t fame or fortune. It was to share the excitement of his travels with as many young people as possible.

“Even though we are living in retirement, my hobbies have always been expensive, from television and movie production to the latest venture in publishing children’s books,” said Ken. “Not to draw from my retirement funds, I work part-time to support my hobbies. That way I can give away as many of my books as possible.”

Ken continues writing about current adventures, each laced with learning experiences that often contain a moral. “After the Storm: Hurricane Ian, Jenny the Jeep and Smiley Help Rebuild Sanibel” was inspired by his return to work to help rebuild homes on Sanibel. It carries emotional depth while emphasizing resilience, compassion and new beginnings.

Reading to children at schools and hospitals, donating books to literacy programs and supporting charitable fundraisers are among the continuing personal goals that motivate Ken. He also provides books for charity auctions and enjoys reading his stories to young audiences.

“Ken and I don’t have children, but we thoroughly enjoy young people experiencing the books, and their joy becomes ours,” said Martha.

“There’s no appreciation like that of a child, parent or grandparent who loves the books,” said Ken. “We are in it for the joy of passing our passion for travel on to young people.”